Back To Normal
by guineamania
Summary: Jack had always wished for his life back ... but he had given up all hope of it happening to him. When Pitch returns and gives Jack a chance to be mortal again, he struggles to catch up on the modern world while trying to run from things no science can explain.
1. Chapter 1

_**18/4/14**__**  
**_**  
****Hey guys. Right so this is my first Rise Of The Guardians fanfic! I recently got round to watching the film and the ideas just flooded me. So I hope you enjoy. Big thanks to my stunning beta WhoLockVenger of Awesomeness who helped me out greatly.****  
****Also for any of you that read my Les Mis repertoire: I will still be updating as normal on Sunday/Monday. Until they are finished my Les Mis fics will come first.**

**Chapter 1**

Black sand swarmed around his body, sending Jack hovering up in the sky with pain coursing through him. His vision flickered as he watched Pitch sneer at him from the ground.

Why was he floating? Why couldn't he move anymore?

The sand surrounded him life a bubble and screams of pain tore themselves from his abused throat. He felt as if his life was being pulled from his chest as agony became his everything. It was like drowning all over again.

"Jack! Jack!" Tooth shouted as the sand began to fade away. They were here, the guardians were here. They would save him. Pitch had attacked him at his pond when he was lazing in the snow. They thought Pitch Black was gone forever, but he had appeared and proceeded to throw his shadows at Jack until they finally overwhelmed him. Then the sand came; came to eat his soul. When Jack could finally see again he had been dropped to the floor and he pushed his eyes open to see Pitch run and disappear into the shadows like a demon.

Tooth shot over, and lifted his head softly as everything faded.

XXX

He woke up back at the pole with a dull throbbing headache, like his skull was about to combust. "Pitch has been gone for two years now! Why would he reappear to do this?" Bunny questioned as Jack slowly opened his eyes. It was cold, a lot colder than he ever remembered the pole being. The cold had never bothered him before now.

"Jack was the one who defeated him before, so it would make sense to get him out of the way if he was trying to take over the world again," Tooth chirped up while Jack slowly sat up on the settee.  
"Guys," he mumbled and all four head snapped up.  
"Jack, oh Jack. Thank Manny you're alright," Tooth fussed, checking over his head and peering into his eyes.

"What's wrong with me? My head hurts and I'm cold," he asked quietly, and the tension grew when all four guardians stared at him with pity in their eyes.  
"It's Pitch. He has developed away to take the powers and immortality from spirits," North explained, his normally jolly attitude subdued as if he was in some form of trance.  
"What?" Jack exclaimed, stumbling to his feet but stopping as the world spun again.

"Be careful Jack, you need to get used to a mortal body again," Tooth consoled as he stumbled and she supported him.  
"W-what am I supposed to do now?" Jack mumbled as he looked at his pink hands, examining what it felt like to have normal bodily functions again.

"It's not safe for you are the pole now, he'll assume we are keeping you here," Bunny stated. Jack appreciated that he was the only one not looking at him with pity.  
"So where can I go?" Jack asked as he tried to feel for the wind. It didn't respond.  
"We think you should try and stay with Jamie. We will keep an eye on you, but you need to pretend to be a normal boy. How old were you when you ... you know ... became a spirit?" North enquired, dancing round the issue of Jack's fall into the ice.  
"I was eighteen," Jack stated, his mind still reeling from the news.  
"We'll take you to Jamie's. I'm sure you'll be able to come up with something his mother will believe," Bunny shrugged as they helped him onto the sleigh, sighing when Jack picked up with staff and held it to his chest.

XXX

One thing Jamie wasn't expected when he came home from school was a tall boy staring in his mirror and pulling at his brown hair. But then he saw the blue frosty hoodie resting on his hunched shoulders and tatty brown trousers reaching only down to mid calf.

"Jack?" Jamie exclaimed with a whisper of shock in his voice. The boy spun round and Jamie's eyes widened. It was definitely Jack but he didn't look like Jack anymore. Brown eyes stared back at him and the boy's brown hair was styled exactly like Jack's was. The only thing that resembled the winter spirit was the blazing white highlights tinting his hair.

"Hey Jamie," Jack smiled weakly, sitting on Jamie's bed.  
"What happened to you, you don't look the same?" Jamie asked. There was clearly something wrong with the guardian sat in front of him.  
"Pitch is back and he took my powers... I'm human again," Jack murmured as he stroked his curved staff with a delicate touch.  
"But, but I thought we defeated Pitch two years ago?" Jamie questioned; his face paling. "How could he take your powers? You're Jack Frost." He whispered and Jack sighed.  
"We don't know but I need somewhere to stay until we have it sorted out. Please say that I can stay here. I have nowhere else to go," Jack practically begged. He was still clearly shaken up over the whole ordeal.

"Of course I'm fine with it, but what on earth are you going to say to my mother?" Jamie exclaimed, settling next to the ex-winter spirit.  
"North has it all worked out, your mother has a cousin who works in The Arctic, ran across North a couple of times -her daughter loves the elves. Anyway they haven't talked in years so I can say that I am her adopted son and need somewhere to stay for a while until my parents return home," Jack explained slowly so Jamie could keep up. "There is a message on your answer phone from last night from Tooth pretending to be her," he finished just as the door clicked open.

"Jamie?" Mrs. Bennet called out as she shut the door.  
"Jack she'll kill me if I let you in!" Jamie exclaimed in a whisper to the oblivious guardian.  
"Right, I'll jump out of the window then come round the front door," Jack nodded solemnly, pushing open Jamie's second story bedroom window.  
"You can't jump," he hissed as his mum shouted again. But before he could stop him, Jack had already jumped.

What didn't occur to the now mortal Jack was that he could not longer control the wind, and so hit the grass in the Bennett's garden full force. Jack let out a quiet moan but when he slowly stumbled to his feet, there didn't seem to be anything wrong with him. It was weird not being able to fly anymore. Jack just felt like some part of him was missing.

How did these humans live like this? He snapped himself out of the haze and slunk round the front of the house to listen in on Jamie and his mother. "There you are," his mother sighed as Jamie thumped down the stairs. "I've just got a message. Your second cousin is going to be staying with us for a while until his parents move back to the states. I hope you don't mind, it's a little short notice. He should be here anytime now," she explained and Jamie did a great job of feigning surprise for this announcement.  
"Course mum, do you need help clearing out the spare bedroom?" Jamie asked, suddenly the angel child.  
"If you wouldn't mind baby," she chuckled softly, kissing him on the head and sending him upstairs. That was his cue.

After composing himself on the doorstep, Jack opened his eyes and knocked on the door, the picture of sophistication to impress Mrs. Bennett. A quite petit, brown haired woman pulled open the door and Jack put on his best charming smile. "Hi, I'm Jack Overland. Your cousin's son," he introduced himself.  
"Yes, yes. Your mother said you were coming. Come in, come in," Mrs. Bennett exclaimed, ushering Jack inside. He still couldn't believe people could see him again. A blazing smile lit up his face and his heart swelled. He wasn't alone anymore.

"Please take a seat." Jamie's mother smiled, her warmth radiating across the room. Jack liked her already; she reminded him of his mother.

Before the guardian's had shipped him away from the pole they devised a whole cover story. Even though technically Jack was eighteen they made him sixteen. He was a believable sixteen year old; Bunny did always tease him about his baby face. Anyway, if he was sixteen then he wouldn't have to get a job or provide for himself as he was too young.

"Thank you for taking me in, Mrs. Bennett," Jack smiled softly as he perched on her couch.  
"It's no trouble Jack. And call me Paula. Jamie's just upstairs clearing out what'll be your bedroom," she explained, clearly examining Jack's unusual attire. "Where are your belongings? Are they coming separately?" Paula enquired, clearly not letting her nephew twice removed get away that easily.  
"Um, yes but until they do I have some money to go buy some clothes," Jack nodded, assuming that was what people did in those clothes buildings. Three hundred years ago everyone made their own clothes; you never had to buy them.

Thankfully, that answer seemed to placate Paula as she looked disapprovingly at his current attire.  
"Well we can all go tomorrow seeing as it is the weekend. Have your parents registered you at school yet?" She questioned.

Jack's heart dropped. He had to go to school?


	2. Chapter 2

_**28/4/14**_

**Hey guys! So it seemed people liked the first chapter, so here is another one! Please review to tell me what you think :)**

**Chapter 2**

"I can't go to school!" Jack screamed at North in the Bennett's back garden. Sophie, Paula and Jamie were all asleep in the house and assumed Jack was as well.

"That's what normal children do, Jack. They go to school and then play with their friends," North replied with a more subdued manner.

"Not in the seventeen hundreds they don't. I don't know all this stuff. I know how to read and write, plus a few basic sums!" Jack screamed, tensing when Abbie began to bark. "I can't go to school," he hissed, but North could do nothing and Jack knew it. He had to blend in.

"The best thing you can do is make friends in your lessons who can teach you things," North suggested as Jack's shoulders slumped. There really was no getting out of this. "But on the brighter side of things, Frost, you have a little companion to stay with you," North chuckled as Baby Tooth zoomed out of the sleigh and tackled Jack in the chest.  
"Hey Baby Tooth, don't you have work to be doing?" Jack laughed, softly stroking her little feathers.

"Toothiana has given her the time off to watch over you," North responded for the little hummingbird-esque creature as she nestled into the crook of Jack's neck. "No one apart from Jamie's friends who believe will be able to see her, so she can go everywhere with you," North added as Baby Tooth chirped giddily right next to the winter spirit's ear. Jack smiled up as the immortal Cossack.  
"Thanks North," he mumbled tenderly. "It means a lot that you've come, with it being three months until Christmas and all," he added with a casual shrug to try and steer North away from his moment of weakness.

"All of the guardians are with you kid," North nodded as the sun began to rise on the horizon. "I had better be leaving you. Stay safe and alert," he shouted from the sleigh as it raced into the dawn sky. Jack stood there smiling and watching until the sleigh was only a single speck of red.

It took Jack another twenty minutes to climb back into his bedroom window; he had never done so much exercise in his life. Who would have thought walking and climbing could take that much effort? The wind had always done things like that for him. But he couldn't feel the wind anymore. Before, Jack could always feel it's comforting coolness swirling around his body and dancing on his fingertips.

All was still. It was now, as the sun began to rise into the lonely sky that the enormity of his situation finally hit. He was still immortal, but without powers, without the guardians, without the ability to give fun and joy like he did before.

If he had to remain this way then Paula would die before him. Then Jamie would grow old and forget about him; Sophie would quickly follow. Then he would be alone again, without even the wind for company. He couldn't bear to be alone again; three hundred years of isolation is more than enough for anyone. Sleep would evade him anyway, so Jack lay on the floor and began to read through some of Jamie's school books that he had borrowed. Maybe if he could learn it at a ten year old's level he might be able to pick up the level of a sixteen year old's quicker. It was a good idea initially but in subjects that are not essential and didn't exist three hundred years ago, Jack was struggling.

An hour later he was still going and had managed to have some semblance of understanding about circulation. Who knew the human body was such as complicated thing? It did make him wonder if his body functioned like a humans; he did work at much cooler temperatures and didn't need to eat or drink.

Eating was just a pleasure for him before, not a need. Would he need to eat now?

Jack's stomach growled and twisted as if to answer that question. It seemed slightly disgruntled that he hadn't eaten in three hundred years. There was surely some food somewhere in this house. Paula wouldn't mind if he made himself some breakfast. He got downstairs with a slide down the banister like he always used to do at the pole. Now he had a vague idea what human kitchens looked like, but had no idea what all these electrically powered appliances did. But he knew he would have to learn sometime. He opened all of the cupboards -plus some things that he doubted were cupboards- and found some bits of food, but nothing he knew what to do with.

There was this massive white contraption that he had heard Jamie call a fridge. Jack knew that it kept things cool, so maybe that was the best place to go for food that would suit him. He gently pulled open the bottom section first and let out a quiet moan as the blissful cold washed over him. The light spread into every corner of room, along with the cold, bringing comfort to the restless spirit.

Jamie strode downstairs first, assuming that no one else would be awake at this unearthly hour. "Jack?" The boy inquired, seeing the winter spirit who sat on the kitchen counter, swinging his legs idly. One tub of ice cream lay discarded on the other side of the room and another was clutched in Jack's thin pale hands.

"Hey Jamie, beautiful morning ain't it?" He chuckled, somehow swallowing another spoonful whole. Jamie winced at the thought of how cold that was.  
"How on earth do you eat something that cold?" Jamie exclaimed, awe once more returning to his face. Jack grinned with a childish glee.  
"I'm a winter spirit," The teen shrugged as if it was blatantly obvious. "I run colder than humans do," he added with an extravagant leap from his perch.

Jamie just brushed off his confusion before proceeding to make his own breakfast with a fidgeting spirit watching his every move.  
"Seriously? You have never cooked for yourself before?" Jamie questioned when Jack was startled, like an oblivious kitten, when the toaster pinged.  
"Three hundred and eighteen years old, remember? In the seventeen hundreds we cooked in bowls over fires, not in these strange contraptions!" He shouted, only quieting when footsteps echoed over head.

"You two are up very early. It seems like you are already having a good effect on my son Jackson," Paula chuckled, choosing to ignore the two ice cream tubs that were haphazardly shoved into the bin.  
"Just call me Jack, Jackson is such a mouthful," Jack tensely chuckled, pretending to be oblivious to Jamie mocking his outlandish birth name behind Paula's back.  
"Have you eaten breakfast Jack?" She enquired, becoming the perfect example of a model host.  
"Yes, thank you," Jack smiled. His jaw was beginning to ache from all these pleasantries he was forced to endure.  
"I have to work today so would you mind taking Jamie with you when you go shopping?" Paula asked, looking down and therefore narrowly missing Jack's look of disgust. He did not want to go shopping.

Shopping is a hazardous endeavor.

Jack and Jamie were thrust out of the car on the main shopping street to fend for themselves. It did not occur to anyone that sending a three hundred year old undead spirit and a ten year old boy shopping may not end well. At least Toothiana had managed to procure some dollars, but he had no idea how many he had in his pocket. Paula had briefed him roughly on what he would need but the choice for each of these items was overbearing and intimidating.

It took hours but eventually Jack and his small believer stumbled out into the street, laden with overflowing shopping bags that creaked with the slight breeze. Both boys were thoroughly shell shocked by tannoys and screams still ringing in their abused ears. They had to get home, as soon as possible. Baby Tooth giggled from her perch on Jack's shoulder as she watched them groan and mutter under the strain of the bags.

"Be quiet Baby Tooth, I don't see you helping," Jack snapped, earning strange looks from locals and tourists alike.  
"Who are you talking too?" Jamie questioned. He stood there with concern spread across his face where there was usually wonder at these things.  
"You mean you can't see Baby Tooth?" Jack asked in a slightly more subdued tone to his earlier outburst while they hobbled along. Jamie's slow head shake made Baby Tooth humph and slump on Jack's shoulder with an obvious pout.

When they finally arrived back at the house Paula and Sophie were still out; this then meant the boys were alone and could talk. "So who or what is Baby Tooth?" Jamie questioned as soon as they were in the privacy of the Bennett household again.  
"She is one of the Tooth Fairy's little helpers," Jack smiled, watching as his little hummingbird companion hopped down onto the table between them.  
"Tooth has helpers?" Jamie inquired. The thought of the Tooth Fairy having helpers had never occurred to him before but now it all fit. Baby Tooth chirped and hopped up and down on the table, hoping that Jack's first believer would believe in her too.  
"Oh my god she is so cute!"


End file.
